


Land of Sinners

by AquaticIdealist



Category: Shin Sangokumusou | Dynasty Warriors, Sān guó yǎn yì | Romance of the Three Kingdoms - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-25
Updated: 2010-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 20:33:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5554310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaticIdealist/pseuds/AquaticIdealist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jia Xu sets the record straight. Rated for cynicism.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Land of Sinners

Land of Sinners

I'm surrounded by idiots.

Or maybe they're just cowards.

Sure, it's horrible that the world is falling apart. Villages are burning, people are dying, and everyone's too busy running to actually help people like me make money. Of course it's a horrible time.

So, instead of crying to the heavens and asking why, or running for your dear life to whoever will take you in, or raising your spear and choosing to fight off every measly bandit that tries to attack some stupid peasant, there are far better things to do.

First off, you have the opportunity to make something out of your life.

A lot of people with talent do rise, but they keep themselves from reaching their full potential. People like Zhang Liao or even Lu Su, no doubt brilliant minds, work until their bodies fall apart.  They die fighting for pointless lost causes. Sure, it's "noble" to fight to restore a fallen kingdom, but don't you realize that the kingdom failed in the first place because it was either too weak to fight or too cruel to the citizenry?

And so we're in a land of sinners. Sinners who either do things so heinous that they are despised by all, or sinners who are totally idiotic enough to waste their lives on hopeless dreams. It's in times like these where, instead of being a complete idiot and dying in the name of your precious Emperor, you should make something of yourself. By that I mean profit. After all, if people are frantically running about, set up a neutral area independent of political standing and offer real estate. Only the wealthy are rich enough to afford to run far, anyhow.

Now I'm not saying you should pull a Lu Bu and start killing everything that moves, or a Dong Zhuo and rape enough women and burn enough villages to cause the entire world to want to cut off your head, no of course not. That's stupid. Having people hate you will only get you killed faster in a horrible world like this. What you're supposed to do is profit, to make your life better even though everyone else is dying. Making others suffer more makes them willing to kill you faster, and not profiting and working to save others will only exhaust you to death. Look at Li Jue, look at Zhou Yu, and then tell me whether I'm wrong or not that both of them chose incorrect paths.

I feel that men like Chen Deng or Wang Ping did it best. They saw an opportunity to stay alive and live to a ripe old age, and they took it. Granted, Wang Ping chose the wrong nation to hide in, but I think we have seen how Chen Deng was able to make money as a governor without getting himself killed on the frontlines.

I regret fighting at Chi Bi. I could have gotten killed and ended up no better than Guo Si, the kind of person despised by many for 'standing against the just or the Han.' Tch, methinks a life of peace and profit far outweighs one of arrogant bravado or of suicidal tyranny.

So, honestly, stop waving that spear around and fighting with blind heroics, or slashing your sword in all the wrong places. Sit down for a second and think. Trust me, practicality will do you good.

**Author's Note:**

> Back on ff dot net, some people seemed to think that this monologue was supposed to be sympathetic to Jia Xu.
> 
> I'll let you decide whether his point of view is valid or not.


End file.
